Bandai Macross Δ Mecha Collection Small Scale Plastic Model Kits

[electric indigo]

Did the reviewer leave off that massive triangular antennae area on top of the bridge? It looks better that way.

[mickyg]

Herman/Qasim announced for December.

http://hlj.com/product/BANN09069/Sci

Looks like markings for both are included.

On another note, does Bandai have a place to post release schedules for these things, similar to the tamashii stuff?

[IXTL]

http://hobby.dengeki.com/news/274672/

[ayaxr]

Well that's a must now.. haha. Looks really good.

[David Hingtgen]

So add-on parts, or completely new kit?

[sketchley]

So add-on parts, or completely new kit?

It's approx. double the price of a regular kit - so I'm going with add-on parts w/ existing molds.

[electric indigo]

Mad Modeler Dorobou Hige has put some lights in the Mecha Collection kits:

http://dorobou.blog.so-net.ne.jp/archive/c2306066498-1

[MechTech]

The lighting looks awesome! He he, lighting the girl's head makes her look like a "fembot." - MT

[seti88]

vf31J Super siegfried 800yen jan 2017...

via taghobby...

[anubis20]

Wrong thread

Edited November 7, 2016 by anubis20

[sh9000]

Wrong thread.

[sketchley]

Finished the "#07 SDF/C-108 Macross Elysion Fortress Mode" kit a while back.  In short: great kit, with a highly level of detail.  Wish they released more Macross capital ships in this series.

 

#1 Top: weathering really makes the detail pop.  I was going to try a new technique of adding pencil graphite on the gun barrels, but the weathering makes them stand out just fine.  The detail on the stickers for the flight decks is really outstanding.

#2 side: painted both the engines and the undersides of the prow.  I was surprising by how much the spot painting improved the overall look of the kit.

#3 Bottom: also painted the upper legs.  Was planning to do a bit more in the underside, but figured the amount of time spent masking for adding what amounts to a few drops of paint wasn't worth it - most people don't look at this side anyways...

#4 rear quarter:

[sketchley]

Just finished "#09 Sv-262Ba Draken III".  In short: I like its shorter nose and less greebly wings more than that on the squadron leader's Draken.

#1 top: the greeny-blue plastic Bandai used is much more conducive to a black wash than the dark blue they used on the squad leader's Draken.  Even then, I was a bit disappointed at how much eventually got covered by the stickers.

#2 side: I really like the side profile if this one.  It almost looks like a real aircraft.

#3 rear: apologies for the bad photo resolution.  Nevertheless, excellent detail level in the rear.  The only problem I've had with the kit is the small piece that you remove from the bottom of the gun to plug in the stand doesn't fit snuggly in the storage plug on the rear of the stand.  Something to watch out for (note: hasn't been a problem for me with the squad leader's Draken).

#4 bottom: the lack of stickers for the bottom of the Mecha Colle kits is frustrating.  However, I found a partial solution by snipping out some of the usable border sections on the sticker sheet and adding them strategically to the bottom.  It's not much, but improves the bottom considerably (to be honest, I like the more subtler lines I created than the big colour swathes on the top, but that's just me).

#5 top comparison: although the gold on blue is a more dynamic colour arrangement, I prefer the wings on the Sv-262Ba.  I also found the stickers to be much less frustrating (dare I say easier?) to affix.  The only part that was tricky on the Sv-262Ba was the dorsal spine, between the cockpit and tail - the sticker is way too thin...

#6 side comparison: the shorter nose on the Sv-262Ba is more apparent in this picture.  Visually, I find the proportions on the dorsal spine are clearer on the Sv-262Ba than the squad leader's one - the gold sticker doesn't help from this perspective!

#7 family photo: that's a custom paint job on the VF-171's canopy.  Looking forward to the Super Pack equipped VF-31 (no, not planning to triple (quintuple?) dip on the VF-31S, 31C, or 31F).

Edited January 3, 2017 by sketchley

[derex3592]

All those look great!

 

[kajnrig]

16 hours ago, sketchley said:

#4 bottom: the lack of stickers for the bottom of the Mecha Colle kits is frustrating.

Quoted for truth. That said, I like what you did with what you had. Understated, nice. If I recall it's not uncommon for IRL aircraft to have different upper/lower paint schemes?

[sketchley]

3 hours ago, kajnrig said:

Quoted for truth. That said, I like what you did with what you had. Understated, nice. If I recall it's not uncommon for IRL aircraft to have different upper/lower paint schemes?

This was the second time I tried that (using sticker borders on the underside).  The first time was with the VF-171, and only with the white triangle lights (?) on the leading edges of the wings.

 

I'm almost tempted to get the upcoming release of the Sv-262 that has stickers for two more variants - in that one, we're guaranteed to get enough stickers to even cover the bottom!

[UN Spacy]

Wonder why they forgot to angle the decks of the Aether/Hemera.

[no3Ljm]

Sharing it here as well.

 

[mickyg]

Sketchly, awesome work!

I've decided I don't like the stickers enough that I'm going to be crazy and paint as much as I can. Here's my starting attempts:

This orange thing is outrageously cool. Picked it up from HLJ during their "sale" just gone (you know the one...). It's a black piece of acrylic I think, covered with a durable orange layer. The whole thing is then laser etched with lines. The lines are narrow enough that you can easily drag a hobby knife through them and voila, tiny, repeatable, perfect pieces of masking for small stuff like these kits. 

Edited January 18, 2017 by mickyg

[kajnrig]

Ooh, nice. What is that thing? I'd love to get my hands on it...

[mickyg]

It's a really hard cutting mat.  Sort of...  Instead of cutting into it, you use the laser etched lines to guide the blade of your cutting tool.

Here's the HLJ link:
https://hlj.com/product/PITIT3002

There's one for cutting straight lines too but this one is way more versatile, while also working just fine for regular lines too.

[kajnrig]

Thanks. I've bookmarked it for future purchase when I start my next PW stockpile.

[sketchley]

10 hours ago, mickyg said:

Sketchly, awesome work!

I've decided I don't like the stickers enough that I'm going to be crazy and paint as much as I can. Here's my starting attempts:

That cutting board is... visually cool!  And your description of it makes it move up to awesome sauce.

I'm going to keep my eye out for it the next time I'm in one of the local hobby stores.

 

Good luck with painting, and especially masking!  Those kits are just crazy small for masking.  I've only dabbled at painting the VF-171's cockpit and parts of the Elysium ship - and in both those cases... well, let's just say that black panel lining* to mask any paint bleed works wonders.

* black watercolour w/ a bit of X-20A acrylic thinner on the ship.  Black manga oil-based ink and a proper drawing pen on the 171.

[mickyg]

On 04/01/2017 at 11:28 AM, sketchley said:

I'm almost tempted to get the upcoming release of the Sv-262 that has stickers for two more variants - in that one, we're guaranteed to get enough stickers to even cover the bottom!

Still getting the hang of using the new software from my phone. Screwed up a whole post just now.

I have the Ba kit for Kassim/Herman and the main silver decals are only represented once. The tiny little accents are there for the colours but that's it. Bit of a bummer.

Back to this little experiment, I fully intend to use the panel line trick to help overcome any mishaps.

Here's progress so far:

The spine sticker was to see how hard masking would be. It's...Doable? But not sure I really want to. 

The gaps will be mostly filled with masking fluid. I love the stuff and it makes a masking job so much easier.

Still planning to mod the carriers on the elysion too. Those flat decks need to be angled!

Edited January 19, 2017 by mickyg

[ridgebacks]

On 9/12/2016 at 0:47 AM, no3Ljm said:

ITASHA! Bandai Online Shop Limited Clear Set at Y3300. Nov 2016 release. PO on Sept 12.

Photos courtesy of TagHobby.

 

Is there any place to order this for ppl in North America?

[kajnrig]

1 hour ago, ridgebacks said:

 

Is there any place to order this for ppl in North America?

I, like a fool, bought this before it became a P-Bandai exclusive item. (Previously it was exclusive to some theater or final episode screening or something.) I forget how much it cost me, and that's probably for the best...

As is, it's probably out of production now. But you can try using From Japan (or other proxy services that I forget the names of at the moment) to buy it. Understand, though, that you'll have to use Japanese search terms/characters and/or this item's particular product page from the P-Bandai site.

[ridgebacks]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

I, like a fool, bought this before it became a P-Bandai exclusive item. (Previously it was exclusive to some theater or final episode screening or something.) I forget how much it cost me, and that's probably for the best...

As is, it's probably out of production now. But you can try using From Japan (or other proxy services that I forget the names of at the moment) to buy it. Understand, though, that you'll have to use Japanese search terms/characters and/or this item's particular product page from the P-Bandai site.

Well, after wrestling with the Japanese site, it seems that there's another batch which will be released in March. Then found out a site called Hype-Tokyo which sells those (also March release). Placed an order without a second thought.

[mickyg]

I'm really enjoying these little kits! Just for kicks, I assembled Hermann's and threw the stickers on. It's not perfect and won't be nearly as impressive as paint, but for the size and convenience, they're pretty good. And let's not forget, about $5, too!

There are definitely some annoyances, like stickers not quite being the right size (wingtips, black panels, for instance), the canopy is laughable in how it lays down on the round surface, and that nasty surprise you get when the sticker is all snugged down after burnishing with a toothpick and a few hours later, it's pulled up. 

But they do look pretty good when done!

[mickyg]

On 04/01/2017 at 11:28 AM, sketchley said:

I'm almost tempted to get the upcoming release of the Sv-262 that has stickers for two more variants - in that one, we're guaranteed to get enough stickers to even cover the bottom!

A, I wanted to reply to this previously but couldn't get my phone and replies to work properly. I've resolved that so here goes...

The dual Hermann/Kassim kits do indeed come with markings for both. However, you don't get a full double up. So doing the top and bottom remains an issue, unfortunately. 

[sketchley]

10 hours ago, mickyg said:

A, I wanted to reply to this previously but couldn't get my phone and replies to work properly. I've resolved that so here goes...

The dual Hermann/Kassim kits do indeed come with markings for both. However, you don't get a full double up. So doing the top and bottom remains an issue, unfortunately.

Dang it!  I'd like to support this branch of the model kit releases, but... lack of stickers.  At least we have the Super Pack VF-31 to look forward to.

Thanks for the pictures!  You appear to have aligned the stickers much better than I did!  I kinda gave up when they were 'close enough', coupled with having to stop because they were starting to stretch.

Edited February 2, 2017 by sketchley

[mickyg]

I don't know... Yours look like they actually meet each other. Maybe that stretching was a good thing. I'll have to find some silver to touch up a few gaps with mine. Given I'll painting Kassim's outright, hopefully I can use a dab of that where it's needed. 

[sketchley]

2 hours ago, mickyg said:

I don't know... Yours look like they actually meet each other. Maybe that stretching was a good thing. I'll have to find some silver to touch up a few gaps with mine. Given I'll painting Kassim's outright, hopefully I can use a dab of that where it's needed. 

I think that's just the camera 'adding 10 pounds'.

Perhaps it's just the artist in me knowing exactly where all the mistakes and flaws are (being the first thing I notice), and you, as the viewer, either not having noticed them or not considering them an error!  Us artists have a hard cross to bear...

 

 

[Graham]

So nobody has been brave enough to try to cut out the inaccurate solid middle section of the  Elysion's triangular antenna yet?

I'm guessing the size is too small to attempt to cut.

[mickyg]

I'm totally going to attempt it! That, and angling the flight deck in cruise mode, too. 

Just need to set aside the time to do it is all. 

Yeah, that mess of an antenna is a terrible eyesore. 

[sketchley]

6 hours ago, Graham said:

So nobody has been brave enough to try to cut out the inaccurate solid middle section of the  Elysion's triangular antenna yet?

I'm guessing the size is too small to attempt to cut.

I was thinking about doing it, but then I thought, "what if it falls on the floor" (have kids.  Well meaning, but sometimes too grabby).  That line of thinking didn't even get around to working out how to cut it out...